December Babies, when to start school?

[Charlotte91]

I've been thinking alot about when I would put DD in Kinder. She's a December baby, and a premmie. Although not overly developmentally delayed, she is up to 3 months behind in some areas.
Yes, she's only 1 at the moment.

So, my question is: Did you start kindergarten just after they turned 4 or just after they 5?

[Maruschke]

I thought our cut off was the end of June, but perhaps that varies from state to state? I am a late december baby, back when the cut off was Dec 31, and I coped fine, but my brother who was also in the same situation didn't do as well.

[glenny_c]

My DD was born in Dec 2010. She will be starting kindy in 2015, so just after she turns 4. DD was a premmie as well, you will prob find during the next three years that she catches up a lot with her peers.

[luna moth]

My DD was born in Dec 2010. She will be starting kindy in 2015, so just after she turns 4. DD was a premmie as well, you will prob find during the next three years that she catches up a lot with her peers.

Same.

But wait til she gets to Kinder and let her teachers be the guide as to when she's ready.

[*EJ*]

Charlotte DS1 is a late Jan baby and the thought of him starting school days after his 5th birthday just didn't feel right for me. He did 3yr old kinder when he was 4 and is now doing 4yr old kinder at 5. He will start PS next year. For me i'm extremely happy with my decision. He's a very clever and confident little boy but if things don't go his way he has some pretty major melt downs. It has turned out that this year we have been working on some speech therapy and he's just gotten glasses so i'm also really happy that we've been able to get a head start of him adjusting to this prior to school. Little things like that have helped me be even more confident in my decision.

Out of my mothers group 2 of us have held back and one went to school. She said he is doing really well but emotionally has his moments. She did say that he'd aslo been to about half a dozen 6yr old birthdays this year so far and he won't turn 6 until next Jan.

DS2 i have done the same with, he turned 3 in March. This term i have enrolled him into 1 day of care, just a play day for him and he has had his moments with it. He is my sensitive and not as outgoing. I think the extra year will be really beneficial for him also, he won't start 3yr old kinder until next year.

DD i'll wait and see, the option is there and i imagine i will more than likely do the same thing.

I'm not sure how it works for you but for us applications for 4yr old are given to the council and they make the placements as best they can going by our preferences. I had DS1 enroled and he got a place for 4yr old last year and i just didn't accept it. Maybe you could do something similar, have her name down incase places are hard to get at the last minute and then decide once you get a little closer.

I was working in a PS and i spoke to parents and teachers about this and i constantly heard that the kids may come across as ready academically but often could do with the extra year at home for a little more emotional growth. Also from my own experience i started school when i was 4 and didn't turn 5 until April and i definately struggled through school. This has a lot to do with my decision in trying to give that extra bit of time to my kids.

So i'm for holding back if it's possible and so far with my boys it has definately showed me that it's been the right thing for us. DD may be different but all we can do is go with what we feel is right for our children.

[HotI]

DD is an April baby and will be starting 3 year old kinder next year, when she is 2.75 yrs old. I will have to stay with her until she turns 3.

We have the option of 2 years of 3 year old kinder or go to 4yr old kinder the following year and school at 4.75 yrs old. I'm just gonna see how next year goes.

She is doing 3 yr old kinder in a diff town to where she will be going for 4 yr old kinder and school, so if she does repeat it won't be like she is forever a year behind her mates.

[Miss.September]

We decided that DD wouldn't go to 3 year old kinder until next year, she turns 4 in March. I made the decision pretty easily but then wrestled with it, wondering if it was the right choice. But having her in a music class one morning a week meant we could see how she was against the other kids of the same age. She's one of the youngest in the class and she doesn't have the same attention span as they do and was taking a bit longer to grasp the theory stuff than the older kids. That cemented my decision to hold her back.

[Trillian]

In NSW at least a child who is born in december has to start school the year after they turn 5 as they have to attend school in the year they turn 6. So for you baby, she would have to go to school just after she turns 5, but considering her birth etc, if there are still big enough delays by the time she is that age she may be able to stay back another year. However she would be too young to send her just after she turns 4 regardless of any developmental stuff.

[Traveller]

My middle child is a late November baby and I started him at 5 in prep. He didn't like pre-school so I took him out of it halfway through but by the time school started he was anxious to get on with it and has never had a problem. My twins will be 5 in late January and I will be starting them in school the following week. TBH I did struggle with this decision but girltwin is ready and I couldn't hold her back. Boytwin I didn't think would be completely ready, he is speech delayed and this worried me so I had him assessed by the school (at 4 years and 4 months) and they have said he is absolutely ready for school already. He's very excited about it. However my children have always attended some form of daycare/preschool from aged 3 (apart from the last 6 months for DS2 when I withdrew him but this was an issue with the preschool, not with my son) and I think this has helped prepare them for school.

[*EJ*]

At one of our local PS (VIC) there is an option of being at 'school' but not doing what the 'Prep' students are doing. It's a seperate program run by PS teachers within the PS for this specific reason. I'm not sure how many schools around have this program but it is said to work really well for the kids.